The Xbox One Reveal in Stupid Sound Bites

Don Mattrick, President of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, probably wasn’t expecting such a poor reception when he revealed Xbox One to the world on Tuesday. Coverage of the system, and the event at which it was revealed, has been mostly negative so far. Plenty about Microsoft’s vision for the console, and the way it’s been communicated, deserves to be criticised. It’s largely the overblown and empty language used to introduce Xbox One that I plan to talk about here, and I want to point out that I’m reserving judgement on the console itself at least until E3. When you read the quotes below, remember that they were said by straight-faced men and women, without a hint of irony. On reflection, this may be the most impressive thing about the entire event.

PS3 Review: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

I've decided to try to make my reviews more critical, coming at games from a particular angle rather than simply evaluating their visuals, sound, story, and so on. This look at 'style over substance' in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is my first attempt.

‘Style over substance’ is a phrase I often see in video game reviews. I came dangerously close to using it in my own review of Metal Gear Rising: Revenegence, and can think of scores of other games I’ve played that it could apply to. But what does it really mean? To me, substance refers to a game’s controls, systems, and mechanics, whilst style covers sound design, art direction, and narrative. A game that prioritises style over substance, then, is one where attention has been lavished on the game’s aesthetic and the expense of its gameplay, or at least one where the selling point is the former rather than the latter. Since the vanilla version of Far Cry 3 is near identical in substance, it’s clear that Blood Dragon’s main selling point is its distinct, 80s throwback style.

PS3 Review: Guacamelee!

There’s an on-going debate amongst video game critics about whether or not games need to be fun. It’s my opinion that they don’t. There are plenty of games that I didn’t find fun, but that I found worthwhile for other reasons, Spec Ops: The Line, for example. Drinkbox Studios’ Guacamelee!, however, aims to be nothing but fun – unashamedly so, and its singular dedication to this goal is difficult to fault.